Worried about Math

While helping my son with some math recently, I discovered a entirely different way for teaching multiplication. I was bit puzzled as I watched my son use something that looked like a Punnett's Square to set up multiplication problems. I also asked him how he worked long division. He knew how to get answers, but could not tell me how he did it. I have also been puzzled by the array of topics he covers in math. After careful investigation of his math textbook, I was surprised at how little practice is given on any one concept. I also found practice test with multiple choice answers (I just think they ought to work out problems). In this book I also found questions where students were asked the best method for doing a double or triple number multiplication problems- the choices were mental math, pencil and paper, a calculator, or estimation. Well, I'm no mathematician, but in the 4th grade the only method you should use is pencil and paper. What kind of questions are we asking on test? This on top of the recent news about parents in Washington state suing the state school board over the discovery math curriculum. These experimental techniques we are using on our children are scary. I encourage every parent to take a look at what their children are doing in school. Write your state legislators and encourage them to take a closer look. Here is the link to a video with more information on two different math series being used by schools in our country. One of these series is being used in my son's school. Mama is working dilgently to teach him the methods we were taught in school.---http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tr1qee-bTZI